PHONOGRAPHY: HONEY PET-170 MICRO RECORD PLAYER

PHONOGRAPH pho·no·graph noun \ˈfō-nə-ˌgraf\An instrument for reproducing sounds by means of the vibration of a stylus or needle following a spiral groove on a revolving disc or cylinder.

I never really thought I’d end up having a collection of vintage record players until my wife bought my first one, and I was hooked from then on. I came home one day and she just surprised me with it. The best part was she found it brand new in the box and it was literally un-used. That’s not the record player i’m sharing with you guys today but I’ll cover that portable in the series!

Everyone has their own taste when digging for records and I have a few criterias that’s an absolute must when I’m digging for portable record players. They need to be in great cosmetic condition, no cracks or major damages to the overall structure of the record player, and they absolutely need to be in perfect working condition(I don’t have room for crap).If anyone is interested in collecting, there’s a couple of important things you should know. Maintenance is key for these electronic goods. There are a few websites online that still carry parts, styluses(needles), belts(for belt driven models) etc… Just do your homework and research about the model you’re trying to pick up. I’ve actually updated a few of my collection with newer belts and needles. They’re fairly cheap to replace and even a noobie can figure it out. Now for the first portable…

The HONEY PET GS-170 is a Japanese micro record player that was first released in the early 1960’s. This model is so small it fit’s on the palm of my hand. The sound quality was never the focus of this vintage player, but it’s portability was it’s greatest asset. You can pretty much imagine people lugging this around back in the days, playing their favorite 7” in the park. The GS-170 plays at two speeds, 33 & 45. It was primarily made to play 7” since that was as portable as portables can be. One great feature on this model is that it has a speed knob so you you can adjust the pitch similar to newer models out now (Japan was always ahead of the game!) It runs on 2 C batteries and a 9 volt battery. This is the only unit I have that uses dual size batteries. There’s no option for an AC power for this model but they did release newer models that had both. The casing is textured steel with a black powder coating and they put some nice silk lining for the interior cover detail along with gold trimming on the seal edges. This unit is the smallest in my vintage collection and is definitely a conversational piece!